Sexual behaviour and HIV infection risks in Indian homosexual men: a cross-cultural comparison

Abstract

A comparison of sexual activities in 49 homosexually active northwest Indian men attending STD clinics was made with 173 homosexually active Australian men from a community sample. There were major differences between the two on frequency of marriage and of bisexual behaviour (significantly higher in the Indian sample), condom use for anal intercourse, and of oral sex (significantly higher in the Australian sample). There was also a substantial level of heterosexual anal intercourse reported in the Indian sample. While preliminary and based on nonmatched and nonrandom samples, these data suggest that the sexual activity profile and degree of risk of homosexual behaviour may differ considerably between the two cultures, and that data on homosexual activities in western societies should not be generalized to nonwestern cultures.

PIP: Researchers conducted a pilot study of homosexual behaviors and HIV infection risks in 49 men who attended 4 sexually transmitted disease clinics in northwestern India. They compared the results with those of a nonclinic sample of Australian homosexual men. Kissing (dry [23.7%] and wet [19.61%]) was the predominant sexual behavior in the Indian sample then anal insertive (18.4%) and oral insertive (12.2%) sex. Australian men had significantly higher levels of wet kissing (p.002), mutual masturbation (p.001), receptive (p.001) and insertive oral sex (p.008), and rectal digital insertion (p.001) than Indian men. Further Indian men did not practice analingus, brachioproctic acts, or sex under the influence of drugs other than alcohol. australian men tended to be older (mean 30.19 vs. 27.17) and to have more sexual partners (4.42 vs. 2.13) than the Indian men (p.05). Indian men were much more likely to have had sex with a female as well as a man in the 2 months prior to the survey than Australian men (65.3% vs. 12.72%; p.0001). Indeed 55.3% were married. This resulted suggested that marriage is emphasized in the Indian culture and no homosexual subculture exists in India. When the researchers compared the number of female partners of the 2 groups, however, no significant differences existed. Of the Indian men who practiced anal and oral with other men, 93% never used condoms. Further 78% never used a condom with women. Since oral sex has been associated with a low risk of HIV transmission, unprotected anal sex was the most common dangerous sexual activity for Indian men. The findings on lack of condom use with female partners highlighted the probability of HIV spreading quickly to both heterosexual and homosexual groups. In conclusion, homosexual behavior between Australian and Indian men were indeed different which may reflect cultural differences.